The present invention relates to an opening and closing apparatus.
Conventionally, there has been a vehicle provided with an opening and closing apparatus structured such as to slide a door panel along the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle by a driving force of a motor so as to open and close a door of the vehicle. The opening and closing apparatus is provided with a detecting sensor for detecting an existence of a foreign material between the door panel under a closing motion and a vehicle body.
For example, a detecting sensor described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-257788 is provided with a sensor electrode for detecting a foreign material between a door panel and a vehicle body on the basis of a change of an electrostatic capacity. The sensor electrode is arranged in a front end of the door panel. Further, if a foreign material exists between the door panel and the vehicle body during the closing motion of the door panel, the electrostatic capacity in the sensor electrode is changed, and the change of the electrostatic capacity is output as a signal voltage to a control apparatus. The control apparatus compares an input voltage signal with a predetermined threshold value. In the case that the signal voltage is over the predetermined threshold value, the control apparatus determines that a foreign material exists between the door panel and the vehicle body, and moves the door panel to a full-open position on the basis of the driving force of the motor. As mentioned above, the detecting sensor described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-257788 detects a foreign material existing between the door panel and the vehicle body in a non-contact manner.
If the door panel during the closing motion comes close to a full-close position, a front end of the door panel comes close to a front door and a center pillar (a B pillar). Since the front end of the door panel comes close to the front door and the center pillar, whereby the electrostatic capacity in the sensor electrode is changed, there is a risk that the signal voltage gets over the predetermined threshold value and the existence of a foreign material is erroneously detected. Accordingly, in the detecting sensor described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-257788, if the door panel is arranged at a position spaced at a predetermined distance to the full-close position of the door panel, a control apparatus cancels a function of detecting a foreign material in the non-contact manner, whereby an erroneous detection of the existence of a foreign material is prevented. Further, when the door panel slides in a range from the position spaced at the predetermined distance to the full-close position of the door panel to the full-close position, the detecting sensor detects the contact between the door panel and a foreign material, thereby detecting a foreign material between the door panel and the vehicle body.
However, in the case that the function of detecting a foreign material between the door panel and the vehicle body in the non-contact manner is cancelled, when the door panel slides in the range from the position spaced at the predetermined distance to the full-close position of the door panel to the full-close position, a foreign material existing between the door panel and the vehicle body is detected first at a time when the door panel is brought into contact with a foreign material. Accordingly, there is a risk that a foreign material is wedged between the vehicle body and the door panel and a great load is applied to the foreign material, while the door panel is stopped or is moved toward the full-open position after the door panel is brought into contact with the foreign material. Therefore, it is desirable that a foreign material existing between the door panel and the vehicle body be detected in the non-contact manner as much as possible. In other words, it is desirable to widen the range in which a foreign material existing between the door panel and the vehicle body is detected in the non-contact manner, within the moving range of the door panel.
Further, since the shapes of the front door and the center pillar vary in correspondence to vehicle types, a degree of the change of the electrostatic capacity in the sensor electrode at a time when the front end of the door panel comes close to the front door and the center pillar is different in correspondence to the vehicle type. Accordingly, in order to widen the range for detecting a foreign material existing between the door panel and the vehicle body in the non-contact manner, it is desirable to execute the erroneous detection prevention of the existence of a foreign material caused when the front end of the door panel comes close to the front door and the center pillar, in correspondence to the vehicle type.